Preschool: The Educational Launch Pad, or a Pipe Dream?
Topic Question: Can preschool be a salient, economical and beneficial solution to the current achievement gap?
Introduction:
The following paragraphs contain five annotated sources that together provide a framework for the issue of preschool as an effective prevention method for all learners, including those at-risk. The first source underlines the importance of preschool, discussing the aforementioned and also evidence for the economical tangibility of universal preschool in order to reduce the cost of late education remediation. The second source provides statistical information on the possible benefits of preschool for students with English as a second language (ESL). The third source is a commentary about the universal benefits from preschool and why it could be an important cornerstone in poverty reduction and achievement gap shrinkage. The fourth source is an opposing commentary to universal preschool, stating setbacks in the seemingly idealistic preschool model. The final source takes a neutral standpoint on the issue by discussing the profits of universal preschool and the downsides.
Anyone who has been following education news is aware of the presence of the achievement gap in the United States. To acknowledge this gap also acknowledges that there are children who may need a little extra in school in order to succeed in an academic setting and future employment. The gap has been demonstrated most prominently between white students and students of racial minority. However, the gap is larger between students classified as English as a second language, or ESL students than the others (Fry, 2007).
The achievement gap has been a hot issue, especially for advocates of social justice, who understand the need to close the gap and provide a close to equal opportunity for all children, whatever their background. However, different groups of people have different ideas of where to begin at helping the students who are already behind, and preventing more students from falling to the lower end of the achievement gap. Educators and commentators discuss ensuring quality teachers, reducing poverty, providing more remediation services and the like. Instead of focusing on the next brilliant innovation, one need only look to current interventions for children to find solutions to the achievement gap issue.
Diane Ravitch (2013), a historian and advocate of wholesome education for children asserts that one of the effective solutions for shrinking the achievement gap among students is to provide high-quality early education to all children (230). The differences in lifestyle of children affect them even before the start of school, and if we provide resources at the beginning of a child’s life, we can build a strong educational foundation for most students and prevent remediation strategies, which are far more costly. Ravitch acknowledges that early childhood education will not end the achievement gap entirely, nor will it compensate for the inequality caused by socioeconomic status, but it is one of the more successful interventions to shrinking the achievement gap (Ravitch, 2013).
Subquestion No. 1 Is preschool beneficial? What is the evidence?
“It’s expensive to do it right. Its even more expensive to do half measures or not to do it at all.” (Ravitch, 2013). I begin the first summary with this quote because this underlines the main argument that both Ravitch and Heckman (2013; 2008) hold to be true. In his research, James Heckman, an economist, underlines the importance of preschool to help children to develop crucial skills, to narrow the achievement gap and to boost the economy. In Heckman’s scholarly article, he underlines models of investment to demonstrate that investing in early years will pay off handsome benefits, provided that high-quality education continue to be provided. This is because learning is maturational, a fact he supports with cited sources. What this means, is that there are specific ages in a life cycle at which learning a particular skill is optimal for a person. Heckman calls for providing high-quality education throughout the life cycle, beginning as early as possible, to gain maximum economic and personal life benefits for all citizens of the United States. Heckman (2008) states that “It is possible to remediate rather than to intervene early, but it is also much more costly.” Providing high quality early intervention and subsequent instruction over the life cycle of a person is much more lucrative than trying to fix at-risk traits that have already developed. Heckman (2008) asserts that people underestimate the returns because they largely ignore the beneficial returns of quality healthcare and mental healthcare. According to Heckman’s (2008) evaluation of the Perry Preschool Project, returns due to implementation early childhood education can be around 10%, larger than returns on stock market equity, which are at 7.2%. Based on more revealing data in the article, preschool provides an option that is economically sound, cognitively and non-cognitively beneficial, and helpful for all young children (Heckman, 2008).
Reaction:
James Heckman’s article is lengthy and full of math equations, which surprised me. I did not expect to see mathematical models of the concepts that Heckman was explaining. The models themselves were more difficult to understand than the equations, but I believe that I got the gist of Heckman’s assertions. The research study is a good one, however, it would be interesting to explore other evidence besides the Perry Preschool Project. This project seems to be over-cited, and it is important to have multiple sources when making a statement about anything in the academic world. Despite this criticism, I am particularly interested in reading more of James Heckman’s articles in the future.
Related Sources:
This source is a scholarly article that underlines economic benefits of early childhood education:
Heckman, J.J. and D. V. Masterov. “The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children.” Review of Agricultural Economics, 29(3), 2007, 446-493.
This source is a scholarly article that discusses the importance of teaching certain skills at different times in human development:
Cameron, J. “Evidence For An Early Sensitive Period For the Development of Brain Systems Underlying Social Affiliative Behavior.”, 2004. Unpublished manuscript, Oregon National Primate Research Center.
This source discusses the benefits of one preschool to provide wholesome child needs:
Blau, D. and J. Currie. “Preschool, Daycare, and Afterschool Care: Who’s Minding the kinds?” In Handbook of the Economy of Education, Handbooks in Economics, vol. 2, edited by E. Hanushek and F. , chap. 20 Amsterdam: North-Holland, 2006, 1163-1278.
2) Genesee, F. (1994). Educating Second Language Children: The Whole Child, The Whole Curriculum, The Whole Community. Cambridge University Press.
Summary:
1) According to Fry (2007), the number of students with English as a second language is increasing, and they are being classified as those at the lowest end of the achievement gap in learning. Also, wider gaps are present between ELL students and the white population than between black and Hispanic students and white students in reading. Along with this startling news, examination of the data demonstrates that the achievement gap becomes wider in most states between fourth and eight grade, especially in math. As the students progress through these grades, the largest gap between English Language Learner (ELL) students and white students is found at eighth grade. Fry’s (2007) concern is with the widening of the current gap between students with English as a second language and their higher achieving student counterparts. Fry (2007) also notes that “It is likely that the acquisition of English language skills and academic achievement are highly related.”
2) Genesse (1994) uses his book, Educating Second Language Children: The Whole Child, The Whole Curriculum, The Whole Community to explain theories of language learning to preschool educators so that they can instruct students who have English as a second language (ESL). He gives specific case study examples in order to illustrate his theories. For example, a boy in the preschool class who continues to speak in his first language to other students although they do not understand him. Another boy tries to tell his friend to climb a ladder with him by saying “Shut up!” because he assumes that the phrase, coupled with the word “up,” means something to do with moving upward.
Methods of preschool education for ESL youngsters are also described in the book. According to Genesse (1994), children will typically go through periods where they will try to use their native language, mimic words of the second language, or stay mute. Although the child is trying to learn the second language, English, educators must not discourage use of the first language within the home. Educators must encourage the parents to continue to use the first language so that their children will still develop the language that they know whilst also gaining the ability in their new second language. This creates an atmosphere for a bilingual student, rather than an ESL student who is behind in achievement. Genesse (1994) also claims that linguistic foundations have already been created by the time a child reaches preschool, and developing bilingualism has cognitive and social benefits for the ESL student.
Preschool provides an environment in which a student can practice daily words and skills needed to understand a second language, along with personal skills that they can use in the second language. In preschool students are typically asked to do unstructured and structured projects and play that require them to communicate with the teacher or the other students in the classroom. This immerses the student in the new language and allows the teacher to give approval, and also allows reactive feedback from peers when learning a new language.
Reaction:
I have decided to use two sources for this question because one is an examination of data by a well-known research center, and the other is a book about preschool education methods. I found it interesting that the Pew Hispanic Foundation noted that the gap between ESL students and white students was the largest. This is interesting because it blatantly suggests that the methods of assessing achievement in schools are language bound and not valuable in assessing all students. This is troubling because standardized tests used in the United States are in English.
The book, Educating Second Language Children: The Whole Child, The Whole Curriculum, The Whole Community, was extremely helpful to me as a future School Psychologist because it helped me to empathize with ESL youngsters, as they try to cope with the new language and also make friends. I became interested in purchasing the book simply because I wanted to add it to my personal School Psychology library.
The book also talks about the benefits of creating a bilingual atmosphere to encourage the preschool student rather than trying to force them to learn the new language. I wonder if it would be wise to create a bilingual atmosphere for all students, not just those who do not understand English. I hypothesize that all students would benefit from bilingual education.
Related Sources:
Statistical Analysis Report from 2001 on the Black-White achievement gap, interesting to take a peak at:
National Center for Education Statistics. 2001. Educational Achievement and Black-White Inequality, NCES 2001-061, Washington, D.C.: NCES.
Subquestion No. 3 Why aren’t we using universal preschool to help students? (Pro argument)
Tallarico, J. (2013, May 29). Universal Pre-K: An Important Asset for Child Development. Equity for Children, Retrieved fromhttp:www.equityforchildren.org/universal-pre-k-an-important-asset-for-child-development/
Summary:
Equity For Children, an initiative and advocate for children, comments on the importance of universal preschool. According to Jessica Tallarico (2013), one of the staff at Equity For Children, The War on Poverty in 1964 highlighted the importance of public education for all children. The United States began to implement education programs and research for disadvantaged children to remediate the complications involved with racial and socioeconomic status caused by years before. The need for early education also grew out of more women entering the workforce. Once stay-at-home mothers, new mothers, and single women were entering jobs. Tallarico (2013) also cites that women with children take up almost half of the workforce, and that due to the Great Recession are unable to afford most childcare options. Tallarico (2013) claims that numerous research studies have supported Pre-K as a remedial, if not crucial solution to the issues of disadvantaged youth. Preschool is important because it gives an educational “jump-start” to a child’s learning and pays various benefits in the child’s later life. Preschool education is also correlated with the ability to perform well academically, socially and in a job setting.
The website also cites the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, which asserts that Spanish-speaking children have seen the greatest gains from preschool education. All of the above are said to be evidence to support universal preschool and in turn help to “break the cycle of poverty.”
Reaction:
Although this article supports my personal decision about preschool, cites a variety of sources, and gives good historical background as to the roots of the preschool issue, I have some complaints about their demonstration of information in the article. In particular, I do not like this sentence; “In general it has been proven that at the time of high school enrollment, those with a pre-kindergarten education have higher achievement levels, tend to spend more time on homework and express more that they value their education.” This is bad research simply because of the word “proven.” Nothing can ever be proven in research, it can only be supported. If the website wanted better credibility towards its argument, it should eliminate the use of absolutes such as proven.
Also, the article points out to vague points of the study saying that, “Furthermore, The Perry Project study showed that fathers who had participated in pre-school education programs were more willing to play a role in raising their children. Both men and women who had participated tended to maintain positive relationships with their families.” However, does this indicate that fathers became more willing to participate in their child’s lives as a result of the Perry Preschool Project, or were they already willing and consequently signed up for the Project? There is no way of telling from the article.
Related Sources:
This site talks about the importance of preschool for minority children, and how it may actually raise their grades above that of their white peers. The source also purports that less money is being spent on Kindergarten per student, as a result of pre-K:
Red Jahncke (2013), president of a consulting firm in Connecticut, underlines important reasons why universal preschool should not be the focus of education. Highlighting what was the relatively recent proposal of President Obama for universal preschool, Jahncke explains several reasons why the idea of universal preschool is idealistic and outdated. The Perry Preschool Project, the most cited study used as evidence for preschool intervention, was conducted in the early 1960s on 123 lower-income children. This study has since been cited despite the low amount of participants, and the presence of other studies suggesting that gains made in preschool fade out by the third grade. Also, when the Perry Project was conducted there was no early education HeadStart program available for low-income children, thereby ensuring an ideal control group for comparison within the study. Had the study been conducted now, in 2014, there may have been a different outcome when taking into account low-income children whose families already utilize HeadStart. The only long-lasting achievement of the Perry Preschool Project was less frequent costs of incarceration (Jahncke, 2013).
Regarding the negligible returns of preschool education, universal preschool as a whole would be unnecessarily expensive to implement for all children. Pro-preschool advocates may suggest providing preschool only to low-income students as a remediation method for the socioeconomic achievement gap. If preschool were effective, this might be seen as a probable solution, but this defeats the connotation ‘universal,’ as it discriminates among children based on their family’s income. The current preschool programs seem to provide one beneficial function, which is their use as daycare programs for parents who cannot stay home with their children.
Reaction:
Based on my introduction, I have made it clear that I am for universal preschool for all children. While Jahncke (2013) has raised important questions about the cost and reliability or universal preschool, I wonder if he has truly been looking at the data, or simply having an anti-Obama emotional reaction. I question this because many sources citing reasons against universal preschool appear to be political in nature more than educational.
He says that, “Perry was a 1960s experiment that was too small to be statistically valid.” I would argue that this is not a valid statement in itself. If Jahncke knew anything about statistics, he would know that any size study could be “statistically valid,” as he calls it. Having a study with a small amount of participants actually tends to mean that the research has more power in its convictions, and having too many participants in a study can lower the power, and offer too much variation in study results.
I wonder what Jahncke has to say about evaluating teachers based on a large-scale standardized test? I wonder what he has to say about the United States pouring taxpayer dollars into efforts to stop wars in other countries that have been going on for centuries? I would hope that if preschool were actually ineffective, that there would be more research to back up such a statement, and vice versa.
I also wonder if Jahncke would agree that spending money on early education is better than spending it on incarceration and due to the fact that it saves some money (including the damage done by criminality to the rest of society). It frustrates me that he seems quick to point out the bad points of preschool without examining the detriments of the alternative, such as incarceration.
Related Sources:
Preschool is only beneficial for low-income students, as mothers typically would choose to stay home with their children, making preschool arbitrary and unnecessary:
Scholastic.com offers a neutral article that states the concerns and the possibilities of universal preschool. They cite sources or different writers, researchers and commentators to help unravel the issues with universal preschool.
Preschool programs that are already in effect seek to expand in order to eventually provide for all children. The biggest issue surrounds how the preschools will be funded. Oklahoma seems to have taken preschool as a public, state-funded responsibility, while other states, such as Florida have opted for a voucher program in which parents can choose between preschools. Along with funding issues, Scholastic raises the issue of economic return and benefit. There are predictions of great economic return, but these returns will not be seen until 10 to 15 years later. This makes it more difficult to get support for funding of universal preschool.
Along with the economic issue, researchers and commentators question the benefits of preschool for children who are not low-income. Cited benefits of preschool typically gain their support for research conducted on low-income students. It seems that not only is there not enough convincing evidence for everyone on the benefits of preschool for all children, but many believe that gains made in preschool are minimal and may not actually prepare low-income children for future academic success. Parents also worry that universal preschool means that children will be in classrooms filling in bubble sheets for tests rather than coloring and playing. This could actually be detrimental to a very young child’s social health and learning. Overall it appears that universal preschool could be possible, but there are certain factors that need to be in place within a community that will make public preschool work for society as a whole.
Reaction:
I would like to explore more of the issues that Scholastic.com raises in their article. I was especially provoked by the comments on economic return. Personally I believe that no matter if the return is 10 or 15 years from now, it is still important to ensure the benefit for all children of the United States. As for the argument of preschool being beneficial for low-income children only, I believe that this may appear to be the case if one only looks at test scores. Preschool studies have shown benefits of non-cognitive skills. There is no way of measuring non-cognitive skills yet, but I believe that if there were, there would be no question about the importance of funding preschool.
At the beginning of my project, I was thoroughly convinced that preschool was a flawless remedy for poverty and segregation because it was one that could be implemented by educators and also gather support because Ravitch (2013) purported that it was the least costly method of educational intervention that we as a nation could provide. There is no question that Reign of Error lit a fire beneath me to garner evidence that I believed was foolproof and unbeatable. Before my research there was no way that anyone could change my mind about preschool benefits.
After my research I realize now that I was naïve. Yes, there still exists numerous studies and support for preschool programs, but it is important to put a critical thinking magnifying glass up to the issue itself. While support for preschool does exist, the specific evidence underlines the benefits for low-income students, more than it underlines benefits for all students. Yes, it is true that there are assertions of economic return, but the economic return might be too far down the road, which reduces the support for preschool as an intervention. Citizens interested in the educational debate are also interested in immediate results.
It is also true that introducing preschool would introduce the same set of issues that are currently happening in grade school. Those issues include issues of charter versus public versus private, the accountability of teachers in preschools and the cost of their certification, the issue of where exactly these schools will be located and who will fund and run them and many other problems that arise in current education.
Overall, the problem still stands. I can show how beneficial preschool is all that I want, but the major educational questions still exist. One thing is for sure; this project has made me more proactive in discovering and uncovering truths about education, public issues, and politics. My research has broadened my perspective and shown me more than ever that the education that I have personally received is truly a gift. This gift will allow me to gain and spread knowledge so that others might be able to be proactive. After all, my goal in life is to help others lead happy, fulfilling and satisfying lives.
Topic Question: Can preschool be a salient, economical and beneficial solution to the current achievement gap?
Introduction:
The following paragraphs contain five annotated sources that together provide a framework for the issue of preschool as an effective prevention method for all learners, including those at-risk. The first source underlines the importance of preschool, discussing the aforementioned and also evidence for the economical tangibility of universal preschool in order to reduce the cost of late education remediation. The second source provides statistical information on the possible benefits of preschool for students with English as a second language (ESL). The third source is a commentary about the universal benefits from preschool and why it could be an important cornerstone in poverty reduction and achievement gap shrinkage. The fourth source is an opposing commentary to universal preschool, stating setbacks in the seemingly idealistic preschool model. The final source takes a neutral standpoint on the issue by discussing the profits of universal preschool and the downsides.
Anyone who has been following education news is aware of the presence of the achievement gap in the United States. To acknowledge this gap also acknowledges that there are children who may need a little extra in school in order to succeed in an academic setting and future employment. The gap has been demonstrated most prominently between white students and students of racial minority. However, the gap is larger between students classified as English as a second language, or ESL students than the others (Fry, 2007).
The achievement gap has been a hot issue, especially for advocates of social justice, who understand the need to close the gap and provide a close to equal opportunity for all children, whatever their background. However, different groups of people have different ideas of where to begin at helping the students who are already behind, and preventing more students from falling to the lower end of the achievement gap. Educators and commentators discuss ensuring quality teachers, reducing poverty, providing more remediation services and the like. Instead of focusing on the next brilliant innovation, one need only look to current interventions for children to find solutions to the achievement gap issue.
Diane Ravitch (2013), a historian and advocate of wholesome education for children asserts that one of the effective solutions for shrinking the achievement gap among students is to provide high-quality early education to all children (230). The differences in lifestyle of children affect them even before the start of school, and if we provide resources at the beginning of a child’s life, we can build a strong educational foundation for most students and prevent remediation strategies, which are far more costly. Ravitch acknowledges that early childhood education will not end the achievement gap entirely, nor will it compensate for the inequality caused by socioeconomic status, but it is one of the more successful interventions to shrinking the achievement gap (Ravitch, 2013).
Subquestion No. 1 Is preschool beneficial? What is the evidence?
Heckman, J. J. (2008, June). “Schools, Skills, and Synapses,” NBER working paper 14064, Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w14064.pdf?new window=1
Summary:
“It’s expensive to do it right. Its even more expensive to do half measures or not to do it at all.” (Ravitch, 2013). I begin the first summary with this quote because this underlines the main argument that both Ravitch and Heckman (2013; 2008) hold to be true. In his research, James Heckman, an economist, underlines the importance of preschool to help children to develop crucial skills, to narrow the achievement gap and to boost the economy.
In Heckman’s scholarly article, he underlines models of investment to demonstrate that investing in early years will pay off handsome benefits, provided that high-quality education continue to be provided. This is because learning is maturational, a fact he supports with cited sources. What this means, is that there are specific ages in a life cycle at which learning a particular skill is optimal for a person. Heckman calls for providing high-quality education throughout the life cycle, beginning as early as possible, to gain maximum economic and personal life benefits for all citizens of the United States. Heckman (2008) states that “It is possible to remediate rather than to intervene early, but it is also much more costly.” Providing high quality early intervention and subsequent instruction over the life cycle of a person is much more lucrative than trying to fix at-risk traits that have already developed.
Heckman (2008) asserts that people underestimate the returns because they largely ignore the beneficial returns of quality healthcare and mental healthcare. According to Heckman’s (2008) evaluation of the Perry Preschool Project, returns due to implementation early childhood education can be around 10%, larger than returns on stock market equity, which are at 7.2%. Based on more revealing data in the article, preschool provides an option that is economically sound, cognitively and non-cognitively beneficial, and helpful for all young children (Heckman, 2008).
Reaction:
James Heckman’s article is lengthy and full of math equations, which surprised me. I did not expect to see mathematical models of the concepts that Heckman was explaining. The models themselves were more difficult to understand than the equations, but I believe that I got the gist of Heckman’s assertions. The research study is a good one, however, it would be interesting to explore other evidence besides the Perry Preschool Project. This project seems to be over-cited, and it is important to have multiple sources when making a statement about anything in the academic world. Despite this criticism, I am particularly interested in reading more of James Heckman’s articles in the future.
Related Sources:
This source is a scholarly article that underlines economic benefits of early childhood education:
Heckman, J.J. and D. V. Masterov. “The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children.” Review of Agricultural Economics, 29(3), 2007, 446-493.
This source is a scholarly article that discusses the importance of teaching certain skills at different times in human development:
Cameron, J. “Evidence For An Early Sensitive Period For the Development of Brain Systems Underlying Social Affiliative Behavior.”, 2004. Unpublished manuscript, Oregon National Primate Research Center.
This source discusses the benefits of one preschool to provide wholesome child needs:
Blau, D. and J. Currie. “Preschool, Daycare, and Afterschool Care: Who’s Minding the kinds?” In Handbook of the Economy of Education, Handbooks in Economics, vol. 2, edited by E. Hanushek and F. , chap. 20 Amsterdam: North-Holland, 2006, 1163-1278.
Subquestion No. 2 How does preschool benefit ESL?
1)
Fry, R. (2007). How Far Behind in Math and Reading are English Language Learners? Report. Pew Hispanic Center, Retrived from http://www.pewhispanic.org/2007/06/06/how-far-behind-in-math-and-reading-are-english-language-learners/
2)
Genesee, F. (1994). Educating Second Language Children: The Whole Child, The Whole Curriculum, The Whole Community. Cambridge University Press.
Summary:
1)
According to Fry (2007), the number of students with English as a second language is increasing, and they are being classified as those at the lowest end of the achievement gap in learning. Also, wider gaps are present between ELL students and the white population than between black and Hispanic students and white students in reading. Along with this startling news, examination of the data demonstrates that the achievement gap becomes wider in most states between fourth and eight grade, especially in math. As the students progress through these grades, the largest gap between English Language Learner (ELL) students and white students is found at eighth grade. Fry’s (2007) concern is with the widening of the current gap between students with English as a second language and their higher achieving student counterparts. Fry (2007) also notes that “It is likely that the acquisition of English language skills and academic achievement are highly related.”
2)
Genesse (1994) uses his book, Educating Second Language Children: The Whole Child, The Whole Curriculum, The Whole Community to explain theories of language learning to preschool educators so that they can instruct students who have English as a second language (ESL). He gives specific case study examples in order to illustrate his theories. For example, a boy in the preschool class who continues to speak in his first language to other students although they do not understand him. Another boy tries to tell his friend to climb a ladder with him by saying “Shut up!” because he assumes that the phrase, coupled with the word “up,” means something to do with moving upward.
Methods of preschool education for ESL youngsters are also described in the book. According to Genesse (1994), children will typically go through periods where they will try to use their native language, mimic words of the second language, or stay mute. Although the child is trying to learn the second language, English, educators must not discourage use of the first language within the home. Educators must encourage the parents to continue to use the first language so that their children will still develop the language that they know whilst also gaining the ability in their new second language. This creates an atmosphere for a bilingual student, rather than an ESL student who is behind in achievement. Genesse (1994) also claims that linguistic foundations have already been created by the time a child reaches preschool, and developing bilingualism has cognitive and social benefits for the ESL student.
Preschool provides an environment in which a student can practice daily words and skills needed to understand a second language, along with personal skills that they can use in the second language. In preschool students are typically asked to do unstructured and structured projects and play that require them to communicate with the teacher or the other students in the classroom. This immerses the student in the new language and allows the teacher to give approval, and also allows reactive feedback from peers when learning a new language.
Reaction:
I have decided to use two sources for this question because one is an examination of data by a well-known research center, and the other is a book about preschool education methods. I found it interesting that the Pew Hispanic Foundation noted that the gap between ESL students and white students was the largest. This is interesting because it blatantly suggests that the methods of assessing achievement in schools are language bound and not valuable in assessing all students. This is troubling because standardized tests used in the United States are in English.
The book, Educating Second Language Children: The Whole Child, The Whole Curriculum, The Whole Community, was extremely helpful to me as a future School Psychologist because it helped me to empathize with ESL youngsters, as they try to cope with the new language and also make friends. I became interested in purchasing the book simply because I wanted to add it to my personal School Psychology library.
The book also talks about the benefits of creating a bilingual atmosphere to encourage the preschool student rather than trying to force them to learn the new language. I wonder if it would be wise to create a bilingual atmosphere for all students, not just those who do not understand English. I hypothesize that all students would benefit from bilingual education.
Related Sources:
Statistical Analysis Report from 2001 on the Black-White achievement gap, interesting to take a peak at:
National Center for Education Statistics. 2001. Educational Achievement and Black-White Inequality, NCES 2001-061, Washington, D.C.: NCES.
Subquestion No. 3 Why aren’t we using universal preschool to help students? (Pro argument)
Tallarico, J. (2013, May 29). Universal Pre-K: An Important Asset for Child Development. Equity for Children, Retrieved fromhttp:www.equityforchildren.org/universal-pre-k-an-important-asset-for-child-development/
Summary:
Equity For Children, an initiative and advocate for children, comments on the importance of universal preschool. According to Jessica Tallarico (2013), one of the staff at Equity For Children, The War on Poverty in 1964 highlighted the importance of public education for all children. The United States began to implement education programs and research for disadvantaged children to remediate the complications involved with racial and socioeconomic status caused by years before. The need for early education also grew out of more women entering the workforce. Once stay-at-home mothers, new mothers, and single women were entering jobs. Tallarico (2013) also cites that women with children take up almost half of the workforce, and that due to the Great Recession are unable to afford most childcare options.
Tallarico (2013) claims that numerous research studies have supported Pre-K as a remedial, if not crucial solution to the issues of disadvantaged youth. Preschool is important because it gives an educational “jump-start” to a child’s learning and pays various benefits in the child’s later life. Preschool education is also correlated with the ability to perform well academically, socially and in a job setting.
The website also cites the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, which asserts that Spanish-speaking children have seen the greatest gains from preschool education. All of the above are said to be evidence to support universal preschool and in turn help to “break the cycle of poverty.”
Reaction:
Although this article supports my personal decision about preschool, cites a variety of sources, and gives good historical background as to the roots of the preschool issue, I have some complaints about their demonstration of information in the article. In particular, I do not like this sentence; “In general it has been proven that at the time of high school enrollment, those with a pre-kindergarten education have higher achievement levels, tend to spend more time on homework and express more that they value their education.” This is bad research simply because of the word “proven.” Nothing can ever be proven in research, it can only be supported. If the website wanted better credibility towards its argument, it should eliminate the use of absolutes such as proven.
Also, the article points out to vague points of the study saying that, “Furthermore, The Perry Project study showed that fathers who had participated in pre-school education programs were more willing to play a role in raising their children. Both men and women who had participated tended to maintain positive relationships with their families.” However, does this indicate that fathers became more willing to participate in their child’s lives as a result of the Perry Preschool Project, or were they already willing and consequently signed up for the Project? There is no way of telling from the article.
Related Sources:
This site talks about the importance of preschool for minority children, and how it may actually raise their grades above that of their white peers. The source also purports that less money is being spent on Kindergarten per student, as a result of pre-K:
Covert, B. (2013, November 14). Why Universal Preschool Is Especially Important for Children of Color. Thinkprogress.org, Retrieved from http://thinkprogress.org/education/2013/11/14/2941301/universal-preschool-race/
Interesting pieces of support from The Century Foundation:
Potter, H. (2014, March 31). Who Benefits from Universal Pre-K? The Century Foundation, Retrieved from http://tcf.org/work/education/detail/who-benefits-from-universal-pre-k
Subquestion No. 4 Why bother with universal preschool? (Opposing)
Jahncke, R. (2013, October 16). Red Jahncke: The ‘Universal Pre-K’ Fallacy. The Wall Street Journal, Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304106704579137292815600158
Summary:
Red Jahncke (2013), president of a consulting firm in Connecticut, underlines important reasons why universal preschool should not be the focus of education. Highlighting what was the relatively recent proposal of President Obama for universal preschool, Jahncke explains several reasons why the idea of universal preschool is idealistic and outdated. The Perry Preschool Project, the most cited study used as evidence for preschool intervention, was conducted in the early 1960s on 123 lower-income children. This study has since been cited despite the low amount of participants, and the presence of other studies suggesting that gains made in preschool fade out by the third grade. Also, when the Perry Project was conducted there was no early education HeadStart program available for low-income children, thereby ensuring an ideal control group for comparison within the study. Had the study been conducted now, in 2014, there may have been a different outcome when taking into account low-income children whose families already utilize HeadStart. The only long-lasting achievement of the Perry Preschool Project was less frequent costs of incarceration (Jahncke, 2013).
Regarding the negligible returns of preschool education, universal preschool as a whole would be unnecessarily expensive to implement for all children. Pro-preschool advocates may suggest providing preschool only to low-income students as a remediation method for the socioeconomic achievement gap. If preschool were effective, this might be seen as a probable solution, but this defeats the connotation ‘universal,’ as it discriminates among children based on their family’s income. The current preschool programs seem to provide one beneficial function, which is their use as daycare programs for parents who cannot stay home with their children.
Reaction:
Based on my introduction, I have made it clear that I am for universal preschool for all children. While Jahncke (2013) has raised important questions about the cost and reliability or universal preschool, I wonder if he has truly been looking at the data, or simply having an anti-Obama emotional reaction. I question this because many sources citing reasons against universal preschool appear to be political in nature more than educational.
He says that, “Perry was a 1960s experiment that was too small to be statistically valid.” I would argue that this is not a valid statement in itself. If Jahncke knew anything about statistics, he would know that any size study could be “statistically valid,” as he calls it. Having a study with a small amount of participants actually tends to mean that the research has more power in its convictions, and having too many participants in a study can lower the power, and offer too much variation in study results.
I wonder what Jahncke has to say about evaluating teachers based on a large-scale standardized test? I wonder what he has to say about the United States pouring taxpayer dollars into efforts to stop wars in other countries that have been going on for centuries? I would hope that if preschool were actually ineffective, that there would be more research to back up such a statement, and vice versa.
I also wonder if Jahncke would agree that spending money on early education is better than spending it on incarceration and due to the fact that it saves some money (including the damage done by criminality to the rest of society). It frustrates me that he seems quick to point out the bad points of preschool without examining the detriments of the alternative, such as incarceration.
Related Sources:
Preschool is only beneficial for low-income students, as mothers typically would choose to stay home with their children, making preschool arbitrary and unnecessary:
Trunk, P. (2013, February 18). Universal pre-K is bad for everyone. [Web log comment] Retrieved from http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2013/02/18/universal-preschool-is-bad-for-everyone/
Problems with citing the Perry Preschool Project:__
Doverspike, J. (2013, October 17). The False Promise of Universal Pre-kindergarten. The Federalist, Retrieved from http://thefederalist.com/2013/10/17/false-promise-universal-pre-kindergarten/
Subquestion No. 5 What do we know overall about popular issues surrounding the preschool debate? (neutral source)
Scholastic. (2009). Universal Preschool: Is It Necessary? Scholastic, Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3752507
Summary:
Scholastic.com offers a neutral article that states the concerns and the possibilities of universal preschool. They cite sources or different writers, researchers and commentators to help unravel the issues with universal preschool.
Preschool programs that are already in effect seek to expand in order to eventually provide for all children. The biggest issue surrounds how the preschools will be funded. Oklahoma seems to have taken preschool as a public, state-funded responsibility, while other states, such as Florida have opted for a voucher program in which parents can choose between preschools. Along with funding issues, Scholastic raises the issue of economic return and benefit. There are predictions of great economic return, but these returns will not be seen until 10 to 15 years later. This makes it more difficult to get support for funding of universal preschool.
Along with the economic issue, researchers and commentators question the benefits of preschool for children who are not low-income. Cited benefits of preschool typically gain their support for research conducted on low-income students. It seems that not only is there not enough convincing evidence for everyone on the benefits of preschool for all children, but many believe that gains made in preschool are minimal and may not actually prepare low-income children for future academic success. Parents also worry that universal preschool means that children will be in classrooms filling in bubble sheets for tests rather than coloring and playing. This could actually be detrimental to a very young child’s social health and learning. Overall it appears that universal preschool could be possible, but there are certain factors that need to be in place within a community that will make public preschool work for society as a whole.
Reaction:
I would like to explore more of the issues that Scholastic.com raises in their article. I was especially provoked by the comments on economic return. Personally I believe that no matter if the return is 10 or 15 years from now, it is still important to ensure the benefit for all children of the United States. As for the argument of preschool being beneficial for low-income children only, I believe that this may appear to be the case if one only looks at test scores. Preschool studies have shown benefits of non-cognitive skills. There is no way of measuring non-cognitive skills yet, but I believe that if there were, there would be no question about the importance of funding preschool.
Related Sources:
Strauss, V. (2013, April 10). Universal Preschool: Important but no Pancea. The Washington Post//, Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/10/universal-preschool-important-but-no-panacea/
Conclusion:
At the beginning of my project, I was thoroughly convinced that preschool was a flawless remedy for poverty and segregation because it was one that could be implemented by educators and also gather support because Ravitch (2013) purported that it was the least costly method of educational intervention that we as a nation could provide. There is no question that Reign of Error lit a fire beneath me to garner evidence that I believed was foolproof and unbeatable. Before my research there was no way that anyone could change my mind about preschool benefits.
After my research I realize now that I was naïve. Yes, there still exists numerous studies and support for preschool programs, but it is important to put a critical thinking magnifying glass up to the issue itself. While support for preschool does exist, the specific evidence underlines the benefits for low-income students, more than it underlines benefits for all students. Yes, it is true that there are assertions of economic return, but the economic return might be too far down the road, which reduces the support for preschool as an intervention. Citizens interested in the educational debate are also interested in immediate results.
It is also true that introducing preschool would introduce the same set of issues that are currently happening in grade school. Those issues include issues of charter versus public versus private, the accountability of teachers in preschools and the cost of their certification, the issue of where exactly these schools will be located and who will fund and run them and many other problems that arise in current education.
Overall, the problem still stands. I can show how beneficial preschool is all that I want, but the major educational questions still exist. One thing is for sure; this project has made me more proactive in discovering and uncovering truths about education, public issues, and politics. My research has broadened my perspective and shown me more than ever that the education that I have personally received is truly a gift. This gift will allow me to gain and spread knowledge so that others might be able to be proactive. After all, my goal in life is to help others lead happy, fulfilling and satisfying lives.